"Nerdic" geek speak is fastest growing language

17 April 2008 0:01 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

The explosion of technology has created the fastest growing language in Europe, according to research published today.

Dubbed "Nerdic", this new way of communicating via technological terminology has developed separately to English and become the shared language of Europe, allowing people to communicate without geographical boundary.

According to the research by PIXmania.com, Nerdic may be more widely spoken than any other European dialect, with everyone from tech-toddlers to Wii-playing grannies embracing the geek speak of IT enthusiasts.

The researchers analysed the terminology associated with modern gadgetry and discovered that the three core elements required to define a new language: words, phrases and pronunciation are all present in Nerdic. So much so, that Nerdic is evolving faster than the English language, at a rate of more than 100 new words per year.

From "dongle" to "Wi-Fi" 100 new words were added to the Nerdic vocabulary in the past 12 months - over three times more than the Oxford English Dictionary added to the official English language, with experts predicting that this figure will more than double in 2008.

Our very own Stuart Miles explains the importance of Nerdic: "Technology has revolutionised the way we speak. With so many words and phrases being invented all the time it's created a whole new way of communicating, especially compared with traditional languages like Welsh & Gaelic that're dying out. Everyone knows what it means 'to google' something, but a foreigner turning to an English dictionary for an explanation would be baffled".

"It's incredible that I can describe an N96 with HSDPA, Wi-Fi with a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss and GPS and be understood across Europe, although Brits may still be confused when they hear the French talking about their 'wee-fee'!"

Pixmania.com has applied to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to recognise Nerdic as an official language spoken by Europe's population of over 700 million people (the same status was recently awarded to the 2000 speakers
Cornish).

To help Brits improve their Nerdic, Stuart Miles and his team have identified the top ten Nerdic words and phrases Brits need to look out for in the next year and the ten they can forget; a full glossary of which can be found online at Pixmania.com.

PIXMANIA.COM'S TOP TEN NERDIC WORDS & PHRASES TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2008:

1. Wimax - Supersized Wi-Fi will give whole cities internet
coverage, Milton Keynes already has it
2. RickRoll - To intentionally misdirect internet users to a
video of "Never Gonna Give You Up" by 80s one-hit-wonder Rick Astley
3. UGC (user generated content) - The buzzword in the
Internet right now. Flickr, Facebook, reader reviews, YouTube all rely on the reader generating content on the sites
4. Mashup - Take two or more really interesting elements
from different websites or applications and make them into one - think Google Maps with an overlay of where you can buy clown outfits from
5. RFID - Radio-frequency identification (RFID) will allow
you to track your packages around the world or let you know how your bananas have travelled to you
6. Android - Think iPhone but with a slightly different
interface on phones from Samsung to HTC and with the ability for anyone to make applications for it
7. HDMI - The new Scart lead allows you to connect High-Def
devices together, like your TV to your new Blu-ray player
8. Fuel-cell - Green water powered battery for everything
from cars to laptops that will boost your gadget's life considerably over standard batteries
9. HSDPA - The next step up from 3G on mobile phones. Makes
accessing the Internet on your mobile just as fast if not faster than your broadband connection at home
10. DVB-H - Newly announced Mobile TV standard for Europe that allows you to watch TV on your mobile on the go

PIXMANIA.COM'S TEN NERDIC WORDS TO FORGET IN 2008:

1. HD DVD - Just like Betamax, HD DVD is now the dead
format against Sony's Blu-ray in the HD disc battle when it comes to high-def movies
2. Dial-up - Broadband is the way to go if you are
looking to surf the Internet so throw that 56k modem out with the rubbish (or recycle them where facilities exist)
3. VHS - DVD players are so cheap and PVRs are so easy to
use that the movie format that would take you 10 minutes to rewind after watching a film is dead
4. Tri-band - Replaced by quad-band, 3G, or HSDPA to
allow much better phone coverage abroad, much better for the traveller in you
5. Hits - How website popularity used to be measured
before people realise that unique visitors is what's important
6. CRT - Fat TVs to you and me. Flat is the new thin so
get with the times and relegate your Fat TV to the tip. You'll save extra space in the living room too
7. KB - Standing for Kilobytes and important when
computer memory was a measly 64k. Look out for the new super-size Terabyte
8. Floppy disk - Replaced by USB thumb drives and CDs the
idea of only being able to get 1.4MB on a disk would now seem mad to the average 10-year-old
9. MiniDisc - Sony's now defunct music format that was
like the CD only smaller. Overtaken by MP3 before it even got going. It didn't stand a chance
10. Super Audio CD - A higher quality CD format that never
really took off. Why? Because you needed state of the art expensive kit to run it on and there aren't enough audiophiles out there that care!

Full tags

Gadgets, Biz, PIXmania